QuoteProject
I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
R. C. Sproul
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote warns against the dangers of subjectivism in technical fields, emphasizing the need for objective truths in engineering.

R. C. Sproul's quote highlights the importance of objective truths in engineering and scientific fields, suggesting that reliance on relative truths can lead to catastrophic failures, such as poorly designed bridges. It reflects the need for engineers to adhere to concrete truths based on solid principles rather than personal interpretations, as the safety of structures relies on these unwavering facts.

Themes

EngineeringTruthScienceObjectivitySafety

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of ethics in engineering education.

More from R. C. Sproul

To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
R. C. SproulRead
The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God?
R. C. SproulRead
We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it.
R. C. SproulRead
Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
R. C. SproulRead
Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly.
R. C. SproulRead

Similar quotes

Therefore, when I considered this carefully, the contempt which I had to fear because of the novelty and apparent absurdity of my view, nearly induced me to abandon utterly the work I had begun.
Nicolaus CopernicusRead
A page from a journal of modern experimental physics will be as mysterious to the uninitiated as a Tibetan mandala. Both are records of enquiries into the nature of the universe.
Fritjof CapraRead
Small-scale fisheries should not be favoured over large-scale operations ebcause of romantic notions of rugged small operators battling both the elements and anonymous corporations. [They ought to be supported] because of the scientific evidence available to confirm the common-sense inference that local fishers, if given privileged access, will tend to avoid trashing their local stocks, while foreign fishers do not have such motivation.
Daniel PaulyRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
Our great struggle in medicine these days is not just with ignorance and uncertainty. It's also with complexity: how much you have to make sure you have in your head and think about. There are a thousand ways things can go wrong.
Atul GawandeRead
As a scientist, objectivity is one of my most deeply held values. If we could just try harder, I once thought, surely we could each see the world as others see it and learn to respect one another's views more readily. But I learned from the Pirahas, our expectations, our culture, and our experiences can render even perceptions of the environment nearly incommensurable cross-culturally.
Daniel EverettRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.